By Uditha Jayasinghe
GALWELA YAYA, Sri Lanka Sept 3 (Reuters) – For the first time in over three decades, Sri Lankan farmer A.M. Pathmasena says, his well is running so dry that it barely provides enough water for his family and two cows. He has fallen victim to one of the nation’s worst El Nino-driven droughts.
Sri Lanka is among the South Asian countries badly affected by weather disruption this year, with some key farming districts recording rainfall deficits of 85% to 100% below long-term averages. The government has arranged for water to be delivered to tens of thousands of people.
“The drought has been intensifying. The amount of water seeping into the well is barely enough,” Pathmasena, 48, said while sitting in his hut in Galwela Yaya, a small village located in one of the worst-hit districts, Ampara.
“We dig a small hole and wait for the water to seep in to bathe.”
El Nino is a weather pattern characterised by unusually warm sea-surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, often bringing drier conditions to parts of Asia and severe storms elsewhere.
This year is likely to be marked by a “super” El Nino, which could become the strongest on record, weather forecasters have said.
The soaring temperatures have already left large swathes of Sri Lanka’s north, east and southern regions parched, with small tanks, rivers and lakes that usually feed crops and provide drinking water drying out.
The Sri Lankan government has said the impact this year could be the worst in decades and that water levels at hundreds of such tanks in the country have dropped to about 10%.
Many houses on the main roads and those that are easily accessible get drinking water trucked in every three to five days, while some in remote areas wait for as many as 23 days, according to government officials and interviews with several residents.
FARMER INCOMES HIT
In the affected districts, people often wait for water supplies at their gates with large blue plastic water barrels while others gather at tube wells to bathe and collect water to take home to wash dishes and clothes and to cook as well.
“We supplement the water deliveries by gathering the last bit of the water in our well for washing and bathing but even then we sometimes run out,” said Konara Mudiyanselage Sumanawathie, 49, who lives in one of the worst-affected areas, Monaragala, around 100 miles (160 km) from Colombo.
Farmers’ incomes, as expected, are taking a big hit, making it difficult to repay loans and even manage proper meals daily.
Before the drought, Pathmasena said he earned about 20,000 Sri Lankan rupees ($60) a month growing cowpeas, but the crisis means he has lost it all, forcing him to become a daily-wage labourer to survive.
His son shut his chicken farm weeks ago due to the heat and water shortages. On a recent evening, Pathmasena asked his wife to first give water in tin vessels to their cows, before they sat to consume their meal.
“On some days, when we have nothing, we skip meals,” he said.
(Reporting by Uditha Jayasinghe; Editing by Aftab Ahmed and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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